Now that the Republican candidates for governor have traveled
the state to pitch their ideas and credentials to Texas residents,
all that's left is to make sure voters get to the polls.

Rick Perry's campaign has a radical approach that eschews
traditional voter turnout efforts in favor of extensive use of
social media networks to win Tuesday's GOP primary.

Haven't seen a Perry yard sign? There aren't any, and Perry has
no local office to house them. Dreading yet another phone call from
a political candidate? Don't worry; Perry has no phone banks. And
you probably won't see supporters with T-shirts knocking at the
door.

But you may get a Facebook message from a friend in your social
circle. You're more likely to find Perry campaign appeals on
Twitter, even craigslist, than to see his mug on a highway
billboard.

Combine that with a broad and sometimes problematic program that
pays supporters to sign up followers, and Perry's campaign for
re-election is bringing an entirely new approach - a largely
untested one - to the ever-evolving area of getting out the
vote.

"It's one of the most diverse, one of the most focused, and one
of the most effective in Texas history," Perry said of his
campaign's effort.

Rival Kay Bailey Hutchison's approach is more traditional,
although it also involves social media. Long-shot candidate Debra
Medina, with few campaign dollars to spend, is almost exclusively
using the Internet to develop a grass-roots following.

"Campaigns are evolving just like people and technology," said
Mari Woodlief, president of Dallas-based Allyn Media. "You have to
go where the people are, and more and more that's become the
Internet."

Tech-savvy electorate

The new approaches are largely a response to a changing
electorate. Tech-savvy young adults who couldn't or wouldn't vote
10 years ago are more actively involved in the political process,
and they're more likely to want to follow a candidate on Twitter
than plant a sign in their front yard.

What's more, it's becoming increasing difficult to reach even
older voters by phone. With everyone carrying a cellphone,
landlines have become a wasteland for solicitations.

Television is a problem as well, with prospective voters using
DVRs to speed through commercials. And the cost of advertising on
television has never been higher.

"We probably don't know what the highest and best use will be,
but the Internet and social media has become an effective
campaigning and fundraising tool," Woodlief said.

The governor's ground game is mostly devoted to a movement he
calls the Perry Home Headquarters program, built on the same
framework as social media sites.

It seeks to have people recruit Perry supporters and ensure that
sets of 11 voters go to the polls.

Perry has paid "part-time field staff" more than $400,000 for
their efforts, in hopes that the prospective voters they have
signed up will actually show up. They're not paying for votes, but
they're using cash rewards to encourage people to tap their
networks of friends.

That part of the approach is nothing new. In 2004, President
George W. Bush developed a grass-roots program that called on a
massive voter turnout effort 72 hours before Election Day. The
program relied on volunteers to get their friends and neighbors to
the polls.

Perry's effort differs in that it's mostly Internet-based.
Part-time workers used Facebook and MySpace to sign up potential
voters. Others, in it for a buck, used craigslist, the online
classified ads site, to gain an advantage.

Unlike in most grass-roots programs, not all the Perry Home
Headquarters staffers are true believers. Many of them, according
to Twitter and Facebook posts, are in it for the money.

Still, if the program is successful, it could give Perry an
advantage and reshape how statewide campaigns are conducted.

And grass-roots outreach is clearly important to the governor's
strategy: Today, the last full campaign day before the primary,
Perry's schedule includes four meetings with supporters, including
a final event at Dallas County GOP headquarters.

Meantime, Hutchison is relying on tried and true methods.

Signs for Hutchison

Her campaign office in North Dallas is also the site of a phone
bank operation - about 2,600 calls were made Saturday alone - and
she has yard signs and a greater presence on the area's literal
landscape.

The campaign also plans to have volunteers go door-to-door, and
to use "peer-to-peer" contacts through social media.

In Dallas, where Hutchison lives, her supporters are ubiquitous.
A strong turnout here is critical for the senator's hopes to
wrestle the governor's mansion away from Perry.

"We have a very good ground game because I've always been a
grass-roots person," Hutchison said last week after a Fort Worth
rally. "The turnout is going to surprise people. I don't know who
exactly is coming out, but I feel like we have the best
organization of anyone."

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